Archive for February 2014

Meet Earl

Earl, an about to be released product I stumbled across looks like it has a lot of potential for anyone looking to have a useful multi purpose device in their emergency or bugout bag. It also looks to be useful for good times too for anyone involved in outdoor activities.

EarlShot

Taken from their web site http://www.meetearl.com :

Meet Earl, a revolutionary tablet engineered for the most extreme of outdoor situations. Built for survival, Earl works where today’s smart phones and tablets cannot. Style meets efficiency with Earl’s intuitive design, fusing Android 4.1 together with an energy sipping E-Ink screen and the latest in GPS, weather sensor, and radio communication technology. With Earl at your side, stay in control of your journey no matter where it takes you.

Specifications: Android 4.1 • Flexible 6″ E-ink screen (1024×768) • Sunlight viewable with lunar lantern mode • Glove friendly IR touchscreen • Waterproof shell • Kickstand • Solar charging • i.MX 6 DualLite 1GHz Cortex A9 • 1GB ram • 16GB memory + microSD • Wifi b/g/n • BT 4.0 • ANT+ • NFC • FRS/GMRS/MURS • GPS + GLONASS • Accelerometer • Gyroscope • Magnetometer • Temperature • Barometer • Humidity • Anemometer • AM/FM/SW/LW • IR blaster • 20+ hour battery • 3.5mm TRRS headphone/microphone jack • 20″ usb lanyard • 303 grams (10.8 oz) • 183mm x 121mm x 15mm (7.2″ x 4.75″ x 0.6″)

To put it in less “marketing” terms, you have a GPS with hiking (topo) maps, a weather radio, a walkie-talkie type radio, a mini weather station, a PDF viewer (load your own survival docs) and a lot more all in a small tablet sized device with a built in solar charger. It’s designed for outdoors meaning mud and even immersion in shallow water won’t stop it.

Since it hasn’t actually shipped yet (as far as I can tell) and I don’t have one I’m not suggesting anyone get one but I will say I’ll be closely watching the initial reviews.